Class Book. ;i_^LV K%^ Gop>'iigtit)^?- COPTOIGirr QEPOSIE I ^ K££NS M. ^^ ITS REPRESENTATIVE 7 BVSINESS A\EN / KEENE AND VICINITY, ITS POINTS OF INTEREST, AND ITS I OFC >^ Representative Business Men, EMBRACING KEENE, HINSDALE, WINCHESTER, MARLBORO, WALPOLE, SWANZEY AND CHARLESTOWN. By Geo. F.^B ACON. NEWARK, N. J.: COPYRIGHTED BY MERCANTILE fUBLISHING COMPANY. 1891. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT. UPPER ASHUELOT. The history of Keene may be said to date back just about 160 years, for although the town was not incor- porated until 175.3, the first authoritative movement towards its set- tlement was made twenty-one years prior to that time, or in 1732. It was then supposed that a very large proportion of the territory *J constituting the present State of New Hampshire was within the jurisdiction k of Massachusetts, and as/he tract of land now comprised within the limits of Keene was supposed to lie far to the south of the northern boundary of the latter Province, its first settlement was made of course, under the auspices of the Massachusetts gov- «rnment. The first step towards it was taken in June, 1732, when Governor Belcher of Massachusetts, in a message to the Great and General Court, called its attention to the advisability of making such disposition of the ungranted lands as would be likely to ensure their prompt and permanent settle- ment. The suggestion was favorably received and it was voted to open seven towns, each six miles square, two of these towns to be on the Ashuelot River above Northfield. This vote was confirmed by the Governor "by the advice and consent of the Council," July 1, 1733. On the nineteenth day of the following October, Joseph Kellogg, Timothy Dwight and William Chandler were appointed a committee to immediately lay out the townships on the Ashuelot River "unless they find that by reason of laying out the township granted to Colonel Willaid and others, the land remaining at Ashuelot River will not well serve for two townships, in which case they are directed to lay out only one on that river." This has reference to the township of Earlington or Arlingto n, granted to Willard and his associates June 21, 1733, and now known as Winchester. The 4 KBEUE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. committee reported in February, 1734, and presented " a ]>lot of two townships, each of the contents- of six miles sijuare, situated on eacli side of Ashuelot River, above the land lately granted to Colonel Josiah Willard and others, beginning at a spruce or white pine tree standing about midway between- the south and east branches of said river, about five plarch east of the bank of the main river, and thence running each way as described on the plot." These two townships were given the names of Upper Ashuelot and Lower Ashuelot, subsequently changed to Keene and Swanzey. Upper Ashuelot was divided into lots the following May, and the first meeting of the proprietors was held at Concord,. Mass., June 26, 1734. It was adjourned to meet in the township of Upper Ashuelot, on the eighteenth day of September following, but the seven proprietors who went there for the purpose of attending- did not arrive until late in the evening, and so as soon as they had passed the town line the meeting was called and immediately adjourned to the next day, when it was voted to have all the intervale- land in the township surveyed, half of it to be lotted out in two inclosures, one of which was to accom- modate the fifty-four house lots laid out in the village plain and the other the nine house lots along the line separating the Upper and Lower Townships. At this same meeting a committee wa»- appointed " to search and find out the best and most convenient way to travel from the upper to the- lower township." And this was no easy task either, for the entire country adjacent was literally a " howling wilderness," it being inhabited only by wild animals and equally wild Indians, as the nearest settlement (with the exception of the trifling beginnings of one at Earlington or Winchester) was at- Northfield twenty miles away. The committee entrusted with the surveying of the intervale land ren-- dered their report at the next meeting of the proprietors, which was held at Concord, Mass., on the- last Wednesday in May, 1735. The report stated that each of the lots laid out contained eight acres- but that the lots varied considerably in value, and so in order to secure equity in division it was voted that certain designated lots should have qualification, or allowance, by having from two to four acres- added to them, so as to make up in quantity what they lacked in quality. This practice of " qualifi- cation " was steadily adhered to and of course occasioned great irregularity in the future allotments. In September, 1735, another meeting was held in the township and among other things it was voted to- give one hundred acres of "middling good land " and twenty-five pounds to any party that would' engage to build a saw mill and saw boards for the proprietors at twenty shillings per thousand, and slit-work at three pounds, ttn shillings per thousand. This offer was accepted by John Corbet and Jesse Root, who agreed to complete the mill by July 1, 1736. On the thirtieth day of September,^ 1736, the proprietors met at the house-lot of Joseph Fisher, by appoinlment, and the meeting was immediately adjourned to the hcu^e of Nathan Blake, supposed to have been the first erected in the township. Some very important business was transacted at this meeting, steps being taken to secure the building of a grist mill and of a meeting house ; and one vote being passed the effects of which are visible and highly beneficial to this day, for it was voted to broaden the main street, then but four rods wide. This widening was secured by taking a strip four rods in width from the front of the house lots on the west side of the street ; a strip of'^egual size being added to them in the rear so that the area of the lots remained unchanged. It is* to this action that the noble proportions of Keene's main street are due, and it would have been well had a corresponding liberality been shown in laying out the other streets in the town, for no one will deny that the main thoroughfare of Keene is one of the most prominent and most geneially appreciatid of all its many attractions. Although three years had elapsed since the granting of Upper Ashuelot, no one had as yet passed the winter there, but after Nathan Blake completed his house, in the summer of 1736, he determined to do so, and was joined by Seth Ileaion and William Smeed. As Blake had a pair of oxen and a horse, and Heaton had a horse, the little party cut all the grass they could get from the open spots in the forest, and also got together as large an amount of provisions for their own sustenance as they supposed would be required, for it must be borne in raitd that although hardly twenty miles from Northfield, they would be (if the winter turned out to be as severe as usual), almost as totally deprived of communication with the outer world as if on an island never visited during the winter months During the first part of the winter they hauled logs to the saw mill, and in the course of this work Blake's horse broke through the ice of Beaver Brook and was drowned. Early in February, 173 7, KEENE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. 5 "they found their provisions running short, and as the conditions for traveling were unusually favor- able Heaton made his way to Northfield and obtained some meal. Before he left that town the snow began to fall, but he pushed on as rapidly as possible and reached Winchester in safety. By this time the snow was deep on the ground and was covered by an icy crust that would not bear his horse but would cut its legs as it broke through at every step. The few settlers at Winchester tried to dissuade him from proceeding, telling him he "might as well expect to die in Northfield and rise again in •Upper Ashuelot, as ride thither on horseback." We are not informed what his views were on the Bird's Eye View from Reservoir. subject of death and resurrection, but judging from his action he believed in the trans- migration of bodies as some others do in the transmigration of souls, for, after refresh- ing his horse and himself and securing the precious meal more firmly than ever, he made a desperate attempt to reach his waiting friends in the upper township. But in vain ; the obstacles were more than flesh and blood could overcome, and after trying the endurance of his horse to the utter- most he reluctantly gave it up, and finally made his way to Wrentham, where much to his relief he was subsequently joined by Blake and Smeed, who had abandoned the settlement and journeyed thither on snow shoes. Before leaving they had so far as possible looked after the welfare of the -oxen by placing all the hay within their reach, but they feared the quantity would be insufficient, and 80 returned as early as possible in the spring, when they found the poor beasts reduced almost to ■skeletons and feeding upon twigs and such grass as they could reach. They went almost wild with delight at the sight of Blake, their master, and it is recorded that strong man as he was, their pathetic evidence of pleasure drew tears from his eyes. May ]2, 1737, the proprietors held a meeting al which they voted to assess sixty pounds on the owners of the house lots for the purpose of hiring " a learned orthodox minister," and a committee was appointed lo arrange with some fit person to expound the gospel. This meeting was adjourned to the 20th of May, when a committee was chosen to " represent this propriety in applying to, and receiving of, the Honourable, the General Court's committee for this township, the money granted to said proprietors when they shall have the frame of a meeting house raised, and forty proprietors settled on the spot." The next meeting was held at the meeting house frame June SO, 1737, and it is notable that a vote was then passed "that no meeting of the proprietors be held, for the future, but at this place, so long as there shall be seven proprietors inhabit- ing here." In order to make it more sure that there would be "seven proprietors inhabiting here" it 6 KEENE AND ITS POINTS OP INTEREST. •was voted at a meeting held October 26, 1737, to finish the fort, on which but little work had as yet. been done, for although there was no trouble with the Indians at this time the whites had a well- grounded suspicion that such trouble was not at all improbable, and they did not propose to invite it. by remaining unprotected. The fort was situated upon a slight eminence and was about ninety feet square ; the enclosed area containing two wells and two ovens, so that water and a means of cookingj; ■were assured in case of siege. The walls were of heavy squared logs, and supported one end of the- roof of the barracks, twenty of which, each containing one room were ranged along the inner side of the walls, which were two stories high, the barrack roofs sloping inwards and the inner side of thfr barracks being but one story high. The fort proper rose some six feet above the highest point of the barrack roofs, and its walls were pierced by loopholes for the reception of muskets to be used by meib standing upon the roofs. There were two watch-houses, one at the southeast corner and the other on the western side, each of which stood upon four tall upright posts ; and to delay and hamper the enemy in case an assault was attempted the entire fortification was surrounded by pickets. The- wisdom of providing this protection became more and more evident with the passage of time, for it soon became certain that war could not be averted, and the conditions were so threatening at the beginning of the year 1740 that the warrant for a meeting held January 7th, contained an article "To- make such grant or grants of land to such person or persons as they shall think deserve the same for hazarding their lives and estates by living here to bring forward the settling of the place." The record made of the action taken upon this article is of exceptional historical value from the fact that it gives the names of practically all the men then residing in the township, so we present it, verbatim: " Voted, to grant ten acres of upland to each of the persons hereafter named, viz.: Jacob Bacon,, clerk ; Josiah Fisher, Joseph Fisher, Nathan Blake, William Smeed, Seth Heaton, Joseph Ellis, Eben- ezer Nims, Joseph Guild, Joseph Richardson, Isaac Clark, Edward Dale, Jeremiah Hall, Ebenezer Force, Daniel Haws, Amos Foster, Ebenezer Day, Beriah Maccauly, Jabez Hill, Obed Blake, Jeremiah Hall, Jr., David Nims, Timothy Puffer, Ebenezer Daniels, Nathan Fairbanks, John Bullard, David Foster, Solomon Richardson, Abner Ellis, Benjamin Guild, Asa Richardson, Ebenezer Hill, Samuel Fisher, Ephraim Dorman, Timothy Sparhawk, Jonathan Underwood, John Andrews, Samuel Smith,. Samuel Daniels, and to such other persons having an interest here, who, from the first of next March (1740) to March, 1742, shall make up the quantity or space of two years in living here, and build a. legal dwelling house, to the number of sixty, including those before mentioned," (thirty-nine in num- ber). At a meeting held February 25, 1740, it was voted to build a second fort whenever seven of the proprietors should request it, but there is no evidence that this proposed fort was ever built. The proprietors of Upper Ashuelot were sorely tried at this time, for not only were they daily expecting news of savage raids on the country adjacent but they received intelligence which, if confirmed, would deprive them of all legal right to their lands, of all claim upon Massachusett's protection in case of ■war, and would place them under the control of a government for which they had but little respect and which they had been in the habit of considering hostile to their interests, the government of Ne'W Hampshire. What this intelligence was appears in the following extract from their records. " The proprietors being informed that by the determination of his majesty in council, respecting- the controverted bounds between the province of Massachusetts and New Ilampsire, they are excluded from the province of the Massachusetts Bay, to which they always supposed themselves to belong. "Therefore, unanimously voted that a petition be presented to the King's most excellent majesty,. Betting forth our distrest estate, and praying we may be annexed to the said Massachusetts province. "Also unanimously voted, that Thomas Hutchinson, Esq., be empowered to present the said peti- tion to his majesty, and to apoear and fully act for and in behalf of this town, respecting the subject matter of said petition according to his best discretion." The above records refer to a meeting held October 3, 1740, and Mr. Hutchinson bad already been> chosen by Massachusetts as her agent to procure an alteration of the order, but although he went to- England and strove zealously and ably to have it modified, his mission was an utter failure, not even the slightest concession being made. It would require a bulky volume to adequately set forth the- origin and development, the ins and the outs, of the dispute between Massachusetts and New Ilamp- KEENE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. T shire which was settled by this order, but suffice it to say Massachusetts had always claimed the terri- tory south of the source of the Merrimack River, and in 1652 sent out an expedition which proceeded Tinder Indian guidance to the outlet of Lake Winnipesaukee, and having decided that here was the beginning of the Merrimack, they chose a large stone, which appeared jnst above the surface, as a " bound," and as their report was accepted by Massachusetts she claimed all the territory between that bound and the Connecticut River, south of the parallel of 43° 40' 12", her bounds on the Connecticut being near the present boundary line between Claremont and Charleston. As after years of discussion Main Street, looking Xorth. it became evident that the two provinces would never agree upon a settlement, the matter was referred by petition of New Hampshire to King George II, and upon his referring it to the Lords of Council of England, it was decided that New Hampshire was entitled to all that she claimed and more besides- This decision was rendered in 1739, and was established by a royal decree dated August 5, 1740, which defined the line as " beginning at the distance of three English miles north from the southerly side of the Black Rocks at low-water mark, and thence running due west up into the mainland towards the south sea until it meets with his majesties other governments." The effect of this decree was to give New Hampshire all that she claimed, besides a strip fourteen miles wide extending from the Merri- mack to the Connecticut. The rage and disgust of Massachusetts may be better imagined than described, and the dissatisfaction of New Hampshire was second only to that of her " dearest foe," for she felt that she had an elephant on her hands in the protection of the towns on and near the Connect- icut south of the line she had been accustomed to regard as the limit of her jurisdiction, for not only were these towns remote from her centres of population even in a direct line but their remoteness was magnified many times by the lack of roads, and by the necessity of passing over Massachusetts terri- tory in order to reach them by roads at that time constructed. New Hampshire's attitude towards Keene, Swanzey, Winchester and the other towns in that section during the war which followed the decision as to the boundary line, may be judged by the following extract from a reply made by her General Court to a request for protection. The reply is dated May 3, 1745: " Fort Dummer is fifty miles distant from any towns which have been settled by the Government of or the people of New Hampshire. That the people had no rights to the land which, by the dividing line, had fallen within New Hampshire, notwithstanding the plausible arguments that had been used to induce them to bear the expense of the line, namely, that the land would be given to them or sold 8 KEENE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. to pay the expense. That the charge of maintaining that Fort at so great a distance, and to which there was no communication by roads, would excede what would had been the whole expense of the Government before the line was established, and, finally, that there was no danger that these parts would want support, since it was the interest of Massachusetts, by whom they were erected, to main- tain them as a cover to their frontiers." But this refusal to protect persons and property for whose welfare they were both legally and morally responsible should not be judged so harshly as its harsh wording would seem to deserve, for there is every reason to believe that it was not dictated by inhumanity or avarice, but simply by the total inability of the province to afford the required protection at that time. At all events, it was not given, and although Massachusetts rendered most efficient aid at times and begrudged neither money nor men in the defense of the towns she had established, it finally became evident that some of them must be abandoned until peace should be declared between England and France, and as the proprietors of Upper and of Lower Ashuelot had acted with each other in most important movements since the granting of the two townships, they mutually agreed to postpone further improvements until more favorable conditions prevailed, and so both townships were abandoned in the spring of 1747. In the sketch of the history of Swanzey, printed in another portion of this book, reference is made to the attack upon the fort at Upper Ashuelot, April 23, 1746, and it was during, or rather just before this attack that Nathan Blake, whom our readers will remember built the first house in town, was taken prisoner. The same kindness of heart which led him to shed tears when his half-starved oxen showed their delight at his return in the spring of 1737, was the indirect cause of his capture, for when the cry of " Indians! Indians!" was raised he hastened to open the doors of his barn so that his cattle should not be burned, as he knew that if the Indians appeared in force and drove the settlers into the fort, all the buildings outside it would probably be destroyed by fire. By the time he had set the cattle free he was given reason to suppose that his own escape was cut oflF, so far as his ability to gain the fort was concerned, and so he stole from the barn by a back way, intending to conceal himself near the only ford in the river. But he had gone but a little ways when Indians sprang up all around him, and as escape was hopeless he yielded himself prisoner with the best grace he could command Some of the redskins shook hands with him, and when he told them he had had nothing to eat that day, they jestingly replied, " It must be a poor Englishman who could not go to Canada without his breakfast." His arms were fastened to his body by tightly winding a cord about them just above the elbows and he was placed in the custody of one of the party, who conducted him to the woods, through which they travelled for about two miles, when they reached a brook. Here the Indian stooped to drink, and as the ground was covered with stones and Blake's hands were free he at once thought of dashing out the brains of the savage, which would have been easy for him to do, as he was an excep- tionally strong and active man and the Indian was so placed as to be entirely at his mercy. But once more his soft heart asserted himself, and feeling that he could never forgive himself should he kill his captor under those' circumstances, he let the chance slip by. After reaching Montreal he and another prisoner, named Warren, were made to " run the gauntlet," or in other words to run between two parallel rows of Indians armed with clubs and other weapons with which they struck at the flying captive, striving to disable rather then to kill him, Warren received a blow in the face, which so enraged him that be stopped and knocked down the one who gave it to him, upon which he was set upon by several infuriated redskins and crippled for life. Blake escaped without serious injury, and was afterward conducted to an Indian village near Quebec, where he made so favorable an impression upon his captors that he was soon made a chief of the tribe to succeed one who had died shortly after his arrival. Blake was dressed in Indian costume and invested with all the authorities and privileges of the deceased, not only as one of the chiefs of the tribe but also as husband of the widow. His good fortune excited the jealousy of some of the Indians, especially those whom he had beaten in foot races, for Blake was a famous runner and his success in passing through the gauntlet and his prominence among the redskins were largely due to his swiftness of foot. His few enemies secured a celebrated Indian runner from the far north to run against him, and the whole tribe turned out to see the race besides many outsidcis, and among them a Frencliiiiaii from Quebec, who noted that the savages were KEENE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. 9 wrought up to a high state of excitement and so warned Blake that a victory over the Indian cham- pion would so enrage and disappoint the redskins that they would probably kill the man who had beaten him. Blake took the hint and allowed the savage to come in a little ahead of him ; the result being that the Indians became more friendly than ever. He finally got leave to go to Quebec and yield himself a prisoner to the French, who treated him kindly, and after tome months an arrangement was made by which he was allowed to return to his home and hi.s family, his real family, not his adopted one. RE SETTLEMENT. INCORPORATION AS KEENE. From the spring of 1V47 until some time in 1750 the settlement at Upper Ashuelot was utterly ■deserted, and it must have presented a most desolate appearance, for shortly after its abandonment a party of Indians burnt all the buildings with the exception of the mill on Beaver Brook and the resi- dence of the miller. The following extract from " The Annals of Keene," by Salma Hale, — a work £rst published many years ago but now as ever the accepted authority on matters pertaining to Keene's early history — tells in few words the condition of affairs at the time re-settlement was begun: " In October, 1748, peace was declared between England and France. The Indians, however, continued their depredations until June, 1749, and a treaty of peace was not made with them until September of that year. On the restoration of peace the settlers, who had been driven from their lands by the war, made preparations to return. The exact time when Upper Ashuelot was again occupied has not been ascertained. It was probably some time in 1750, certainly as early as 1751, as it is within the recollection of Thomas Wells, now living, who came to reside here in 1752, that eight or ten dwelling houses had been erected." Additional evidence that some of the settlers returned early in the year 1750 is afforded by the fact that the first movement to secure the incorporation of the town by New Hamp.shire was made IFebruary 11th of that year, when twenty of the inhabitants of Upper Ashuelot held a meeting at that place and empowered their " trusty friend Capt. Jeremiah Hall to Represent our Difliculties to his Excellency the Governor of New Hampshire and to any others Concerned in that Affair that we may be Incorporated as a town and Likewise we give him power to chuse a man to assist him In the affaires." A few days later, or February 20, 1750, a meeting was held at Wrentham by twenty-six of the proprietors, and Benjamin Guild was empowered to assist Capt. Hall in the work of obtaining the •desired charter. A petition was drawn up which set forth the facts relating to the origin, develop- ment, owneiship and destruction of the settlement, and was dated "March ye 4th 1750-1," but this petition was not granted, and the settlers were compelled to get along as best they could until April 11, 1753, when in response to another petition a charter was granted under the name of Keene, this .name being chosen, it is supposed, in honor of Sir Benjamin Keene, of England, who at that time was Minister from England to Spain. The name of the township was originally spelled ''Keen," and this spelling was retained until early in the present century. The first town meeting was held May 2, 1753, and it is worthy of note that our old friend Nathan Blake was one of the original town ofiieers, he being given the exalted position of " Fence Viewer." As his eyesight was exceptionally good, and the fences in the town at that time was chiefly conspicuous by their absence, it is obvious that he was admirably qualified for the performance of his duties. In the spring of 1754 the savages returned to the war-path, and hearing of an attack made by them upon Penacook (now Concord), the residents of Keene concentrated all their efforts upon the completion of the repairs upon the fort which had been almost entirely destroyed during the town's abandonment. Early in June a body of men were sent from Keene to Westmoreland in response to an alarm raised by residents of i hat town upon discovering "Indian sign," but no redskins could be found, although it is known there were some lurking about for they followed the Keene party home, unobserved, and the next day captured Benjamin Twitchell, as he was returning from Ash Swamp. They killed several oxen and lior.-;es and took Twitchell to Quebec where he slaved until ransomed, when he embarked for Boston but was taken sick and put ashore, dying in a few days. In 1755, Indians were found concealed in the meadows south of the 10 KEENE AND ITS POINTS OF INTEREST. Keene line by a party of soldiers and laborers from Swanzey, who fired upon them and after causing^ them to retreat sent word to Keene, from whence a party of men was sent to guard the point in the river where it was thought they would try to cross. After waiting a wliile without seeing any Indians- one of the party named Howard, suggested that they might cross at another ford, farther up stream. The party set out for the upper ford but had no sooner got a safe distance from their original position, than they saw nine Indians cross the river there, but although the whites lay in ambush where they supposed the savages would pass they did not see them again and were obliged to confess themselves outwitted and return to the fort without striking a blow. The date of the final appearance of hostila '^!":;"' ■ — ^ i- !■>. — - ..\ '■^_^*'-. . •'ii-^^sdfer^ M4 ■■:■.- . -^-a^SiJ^ fe^' ''•^'^ ■ J^ ■ -ff- .Jate ^^^^^^g ' -^^^^S ^■■g^'^'^' ><•>' '.,''. *i^; : -^ ■■",': ijBK^. ""^m "''^wll^^ ^^^^t. H^E^ 1 ■^mg^f r^^^^ ^^ ^g^,^ ~'*'^^;. 'i- ■ C ■; 'w'MSi s"^^ ^Ss^'^^HfedHKl: **■«.